Wall Street Analysts Look Bullish on New Gold (NGD): Should You Buy?

Core Viewpoint - The article discusses the reliability of brokerage recommendations, particularly focusing on New Gold (NGD), and emphasizes the importance of using these recommendations in conjunction with other analytical tools for making investment decisions [1][5]. Group 1: Brokerage Recommendations - New Gold has an average brokerage recommendation (ABR) of 1.56, indicating a position between Strong Buy and Buy, based on recommendations from nine brokerage firms [2]. - Of the nine recommendations, six are Strong Buy and one is Buy, which accounts for 66.7% and 11.1% of all recommendations respectively [2]. Group 2: Limitations of Brokerage Recommendations - Solely relying on brokerage recommendations may not be advisable, as studies indicate they often fail to guide investors toward stocks with the highest potential for price appreciation [5]. - Analysts from brokerage firms tend to exhibit a strong positive bias in their ratings, with five "Strong Buy" recommendations for every "Strong Sell" [6][11]. Group 3: Zacks Rank as an Alternative - The Zacks Rank, which classifies stocks into five groups based on earnings estimate revisions, is presented as a more reliable indicator of near-term price performance compared to ABR [8][12]. - The Zacks Rank is updated more frequently and reflects timely changes in earnings estimates, making it a more effective tool for predicting future price movements [13]. Group 4: New Gold's Earnings Estimates - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for New Gold has increased by 4.2% over the past month to $0.58, indicating growing optimism among analysts regarding the company's earnings prospects [14]. - This increase in consensus estimates has contributed to a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy) for New Gold, suggesting that the Buy-equivalent ABR may be a useful guide for investors [15].